I work at a boat dealership so I hear some stupid stories about boaters sometimes and this guy came in with a story that just took the cake today and I was just wondering if anyone on here has heard this before and would like to call BS on it as well.

So, there is a family that just bought a big sport cruiser, lets say a 36 ft Sea Ray. They get to the lake and launch the boat and start to drive it around only to find that the boat is very sluggish and doesn't handle like the day that they test drove the boat with the salesman. They head back to the marina and check things out and cant seem to find anything wrong with the motors and so they have one of the marina employees jump in the water to see if they might have something caught in the props. Upon doing so the marina employee comes back up gasping for air and then proceeds to start laughing as he says the trailer is still attached to the boat by the bow eye and the transom straps. WTF?

I didn't say anything to the guy, but I was thinking man... what a load of BS. How could anyone on the planet earth be stupid enough to launch a boat with the trailer on it. You would have to take the trailer off of the hitch on the ramp. I'm not to sure how far into the water you would have to back your truck to do this but I am pretty sure that you would sink your truck.

Anyway just curious if anyone else has heard this before. Ha I thought it might be good for a laugh. If anyone else has any good "stupidity" stories then lets hear them.

Are you serious. I still don't understand how in the hell you could not know that the trailer doesn't go in the water. How could you not notice either. I mean you would have to actually take the trailer off the truck. How could you not notice????? I am sure that the boat would still move, I didn't doubt that for a second, just the fact that someone could actually be so stupid as to do that. WOW, I think I would be floored if I saw someone trying to do this at the launch ramp. HA, how do you approach someone that is making such a huge mistake and tell them something. I bet it is a hell of a time trying to get it all hooked back up if the water is choppy, talk about danger. I have sat out at the local launch ramp on a day like the 4th and just seen some dumb things but never anything that retarded. Shoot I have even done some stupid things myself but that is crazy.

I was at the Colorado River about 10 years ago and this happened right next to our campsite. no joke! the boat was a mid-80's Bayliner outboard. the guy started floating down the river yelling at us. his wife came running up to our campsite and said "you have to save my husband! the trailer came off the truck but its still attached to the boat!" my dad and i paused, looked at each other, and let out a little chuckle. long story short, we towed him back in, got the boat off the trailer, then pulled the trailer out of the river.

I work at a dealership in Monroe, LA. Yes the story is true. i personally have seen a couple buy a new boat after never owning one and do that.

We also had a family that for got to put the boat plug in a 202 Crownline at lake D'arbonne. they put it in the water, rode around for a while, stopped long enough for the water to come in and hurried back to the ramp. the kicker though is that they got to the ramp's pier, got out, and watched it sink. Brand new boat and didnt even try to get the trailer in the water and get it out. They then sued us for personal stress or some crap like that. All after we went and got the boat out of the water for them for half price. Labor rate is 75 a hour and we charged them 30 a hour cause it was a brand new boat.

Nice. I don't see how they could sue you for being stupid though. It's like they expect you to come out and put the plug in and take it out for them. I was out at the boat ramp one day and just got done with a great day of ridding and was ready to head home when a fellow Nautique owner and one of our customers pulls up and starts to rag on my work to me. I could have really cared less what the guy had to say cause he was so rude in doing so and used plenty of curse word to get his point across to me when all I was trying to do was clean my boat. He was pissed cause if he disconnected his lights to back the trailer in then his brakes locked up. So I politely replied well sir the lights are water proof and you must have the light plug connected to disengage the brakes when backing up since you have a newer trailer. He goes, NO... that is just what you want me to think so that I can back in my trailer and then have one of my lights blow out and then YOU can sell me a new one at some ungoddly price. I told him look I had an I/O for a while before I got a Nautique and the lights on it were not waterproof and it never failed me once and I never disconnected the lights and I don't on my new boat either and haven't had a problem. He told me that I was full of you know what and that I shouldn't be allowed to work at a boat store. So I walked over to his trailer and hooked his light plug from his headlight plug on the truck to his brake release on the trailer and told him there you have it, now your lights won't come on when you are backing up and the brakes are disengaged as well. Then I asked him how he got his boat in all the previous times to which he had no reply. I couldn't belive the mental breakdown this guy was having at the ramp. He didn't even say thank you or anything. What an ass. Sorry about the long rant but I never got to let that one vent. The post above made me think about how stupid and rude people can be when all you are trying to do is help.

Think about this? You have to pass a test to drive a car. You have to take HOURS of instruction to fly a plane. You only have to be able to afford a boat in most states to drive one! I took a boating safety class years ago and would gladly again if it was law. Scary, you don't have to have any training/tests to have a boat!

in Louisiana they are makin anyone that was born on or after january 1,1988 have a boaters safety card so drive a boat over 25 hp. i was born in march of 88 so i had to take it. It was the most pointless class that i ever took. The whole class was aimed at jet skis. almost nuthin on boats. and they only teach for drivin the boat nuthin about takin care of it. its stupid and would only barely help these probems on the river.

I don't mean to be the moron that sues mickey d's asking for them to put a "waning: hot" label on the cup, but when we bought our boat, we, at some point mentioned it was our first boat. I think if you are selling that boat, its always nice to remind the person, if the plug isn't in, then we should put it in. the people that skuttled that crownline were being stupid though, thats not how you should act in that situation. the boat brand isn't very nice, but the salesman was a good salesman, he sells malibu's now.

We ask all of our customers if they have owned a boat before. If they say yes than we dont worry about them. But if they say no we offer to take them to the bayou and run the boat with them and show them how to properly load and unload a boat. The chance is their's but i cant think of a single cutomer that we have taken to the water in about 4 years. We used to do it all the time. SO i think that some people tryin to make it look like they know what they are doin by sayin that they know how to operate and care for a boat.

Down here all the dealers say that the marine bussiness would be great if we could take the public out of it. I guess we just have a bunch of natural born idiots in louisiana.